


The Iced Coffee That Changed Lives

by bluestbluetoeverblue



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Barista Dean, Dad Castiel, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-07
Updated: 2014-08-07
Packaged: 2018-02-12 04:29:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,836
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2095803
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluestbluetoeverblue/pseuds/bluestbluetoeverblue
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Dean makes a friend half his age who may lead to him being punched more than once.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Iced Coffee That Changed Lives

**Author's Note:**

> So this is a kind of weird piece. The whole thing was sort of strange to write, but I hope you guys like it. It's kind of an experiment inspired by a relationship in the Purge: Anarchy (none of the Purge plot idea is involved).

Mary wiped the skin under her eyes, trying not to smudge any makeup, and entered the coffee shop. It was nearly empty, and she wobbled up to the counter where a guy stood wiping out a blender. Dean the nametag on his apron read. He had a light splash of freckles across his tan skin, short brown hair, and a lean, muscular build. She thought she detected a bit of black eyeliner on his bottom lid, which made his already bright green eyes pop. 

“What can I get you?” he asked, looking up with a smile as she approached the counter. The smile diminished a bit when he saw her face; she must have looked more upset than she meant to.

“Um, could I get an iced mocha?” 

“Coming right up.” He turned and began fixing the drink, and Mary took a seat at the other side of the counter on a tall bar stool. Biting her lip, she blinked away a set of tears. 

“You alright?” the guy asked when he turned and set her coffee on the counter in front of her.

“Fine.” Mary nodded and attempted a smile. He looked at her incredulously, and she sighed. “I was supposed to meet my boyfriend here for coffee, but instead he called and broke up with me.”

“On the phone?” Dean asked. She nodded. “What a douche.”

“Tell me about it.”

“That really sucks, I’m sorry.” He looked sympathetic, and she felt pathetic telling her problems to some strange guy who was serving her coffee. She couldn’t stop talking, though.

“It’s fine. I mean, we’re sixteen, it’s not like we were going to be together for anything, it just…”

“Still hurts,” Dean said. She nodded again, taking a sip of her drink. “I understand. I’ve been through plenty of shitty relationships and breakups of my own. You have a right to be sad. The least I can do is make decent coffee and try to cheer you up.”

“You don’t have to-” 

“Nonsense,” Dean smiled. “You seem like a nice girl. You go to high school around here?”

“Jefferson High across town.”

“No kidding. That’s where I graduated from.”

“Really?” Mary asked. 

“But don’t mention my name, the teachers won’t like you if you do.”

“So you were that kid?” He nodded smoothly, smiling. 

“Oh yeah. Motorcycle, army jacket, not doing my homework, the works. Not the respectable student I’m sure you are.”

She laughed. “I’m the kid you probably would have made fun of.”

“How so?”

“Almost straight A’s, chemistry club, LARP geek…”

“Hey, hey, don’t be knocking the geek community.”

“You LARP?” she asked dubiously.

“It might have been more closeted in high school, I admit, but my geek side is loud and proud nowadays. Star Trek, Doctor Who, Buffy, all that good stuff.”

“No way.”

“Uh-huh. Senior year I tried learning Klingon.”

Mary spent an hour drinking coffee and talking to Dean about TV shows and comic books and a bunch of other stuff. She can’t stand speaking to half the kids at school, then becomes fast friends with some legal adult in a coffee shop? Fantastic, that was totally Mary, as far as she was concerned. When her mocha was gone and the shop’s hours were dwindling, she tried to hand Dean the money for the drink, but he refused. 

“Don’t worry about it, it’s on the house.”

“Thanks.” She grinned. “See you around.”

“See ya.”

***

Castiel glanced at the clock and continued stirring his sausage and potato stew. Finally, he heard the front door open, and Mary was soon standing in the doorway. 

“I was starting to get worried,” Cas said. “I texted, but you didn’t answer.”

“Sorry, I was driving.” Mary walked over, took a whiff of the cooking meal, and kissed her father on the cheek.

“Well, then I’m glad you didn’t answer, I suppose. Hungry?”

“Starving.”

They sat at their small, round kitchen table dipping pieces of french bread into the stew and chatting about their days, like normal. Cas complained about one of his students at the local college where he taught history and religion. 

“So how was your day?” he asked.

“Well, Gordon and I broke up.” 

Castiel set down his spoon and looked up at his daughter, forehead wrinkling in worry. “I’m sorry, love. Are you alright?”

“Yeah. You can be happy, I know you didn’t like him very much.”

“I didn’t think he treated you very well, but that doesn’t matter now. I’m not happy when you’re not happy.”

“Thanks, Dad, but I’m really fine. Guys are overrated anyways.”

“Isn’t that the truth.” It was Mary’s turn to look worried.

“I know you think it’s silly, but online dating is really common now. There are a ton of successful couples that meet online.” Cas smiled and returned to eating.

“I appreciate your concern, but I’m pretty happy with my life. I don’t need a boyfriend right now, I’d rather just focus on you.”

“But in a year I’ll go to college, and I do want to go to the university, but I’ll still be living in the dorms, and I don’t want you to be lonely.”

“I won’t be lonely,” Castiel laughed. “I’ll be just fine.”

“If you say so.”

***

It was about a week later when Mary stopped at the coffee shop again, and Dean happened to be working. They talked for a little while before Mary headed to her part time job at a bookstore a few blocks over. This became a common occurrence; she would often stop by after her shift, get a coffee, and talk to Dean for a while, if there weren’t many customers. They had a surprising amount in common for being such completely different people. One of the first times they sat talking, Dean came to a realization.

“Shit, I don’t actually know your name.” She laughed.

“It’s Mary.” Dean let out a small chuckle.

“Of course it is.” She looked at him questioningly. “Mary was my mother’s name.”

“Was?”

“Yeah, she passed away when I was younger. Our house caught fire in the middle of the night.”

“Jeez, I’m so sorry. I can’t even imagine.”

“Thanks. I was actually named for her mother, Deanna.”

“Hmm. I credit my name to Jimi Hendrix.”

“What?” he asked, with a confused smile. 

“My dad’s favorite song is The Wind Cries Mary. So…” She nodded and shrugged.

“Hey, he’s got good taste at least.”

“Yeah,” she laughed. “He’s pretty great.”

“What’s he like?”

“Let’s see...taller than me but a bit shorter than you, dark hair that always somehow looks messy, too formal a wardrobe, squints a lot, the bluest eyes you’ve ever seen, and he always wears this giant, tan trenchcoat when he goes out. And he speaks in a kind of old-timey way, like is vocabulary needs to be updated even though he uses slang and stuff; it still feels comfortably formal.”

“He sounds like a librarian.”

“Close-- history professor. I could totally see him as a librarian though; he’s even got these dorky reading glasses. When he puts them on, I swear he’s adorable.” 

Dean smiled. 

“Obviously not literally, but from your description, I can see the resemblance. Dark hair, blue eyes, squints a lot.”

“I do his squinting thing? With the confused head tilt?”

“Oh yeah. I see it all the time.” 

“Oh my gosh,” Mary laughed and rubbed her temples. 

“You talk about your dad a lot, what about your mom?”

“I don’t really have one. My dad always wanted kids, but none of the adoption agencies he applied to approved him, so he got a surrogate.”

“So you literally just don’t have a mom.” She nodded.

“It’s just my dad and me. Whenever I had an issue that required some kind of maternal touch or whatever, I went to my aunt Anna. It’s kind of weird, I know.”

“No, it’s…yeah, it’s a bit weird.” They both laughed. “But it’s cool. He wanted to be a dad, so he became one.”

“So what about you? Do you want kids?” she asked. Dean let out a breath of air and started wiping down the counter. 

“I love kids, but I’d have to find the right person first; I don’t think I could do it alone like your dad. I had this girlfriend, Lisa, who had a son. We were cool and all, but he never really got that close to me, you know? Sometimes I worry that I wouldn’t be a good dad because of it, but that doesn’t really matter without the whole spouse thing, and no one seems to be looking to fill that spot in my life anytime soon.”

“You never know,” Mary said, drinking her caramel latte.

“I guess so, but I’m a thirty-seven year old barista/unpaid volunteer fireman with no home-making skills besides, well, making coffee, so I’m not holding out that much hope.”

Mary gave a soft, sympathetic laugh as Dean turned to take an order from an approaching customer. It was clear that Dean wasn’t very impressed with or proud of himself, and she understood that feeling. I mean, her only really great friend was an almost forty year old dude who worked in a coffee shop, wore black eyeliner, and had a sleeve of vibrant tattoos plus others, she was sure. Wasn’t this the kind of friendship teachers and parents and adults in general told you to avoid? Dean was nice though, cool and sweet but not in that completely-hitting-on-you sort of way. She enjoyed spending time at the coffee shop and could talk to him about more real things than she could talk to any of her friends her age about. 

***

“Hey Dean?” Mary sat down at the counter while Dean sat behind it doing a crossword.

“Mhm?”

“Do you regret not going to college?” 

He looked up then, setting his pencil down on the counter between them, green eyes curious at the conversation he’d gotten himself into.

“Not really. I enjoy my life, but I’m a lazy, carefree kind of person. I think a certain type of people do better at college than others. When I graduated I was broke, didn’t get decent enough grades for any scholarships, and honestly didn’t care enough to go anywhere. My brother was the complete opposite. You kind of remind me of him sometimes, the way you talk and think. He got perfect grades, I can’t even name all of his after school clubs, and he was obsessed with getting into Stanford. Now he’s living happily as a successful lawyer, as I am as a successful barista. It all depends on what you want, and whether you’re willing to get it.”

She didn’t respond, just sat and nodded, thinking it all over. 

“Thank you,” she said finally. “That actually helps a lot.” He smiled.

“I’m glad. I may never have kids, but at least there’s you to dish out my small bits of arguably wise advice and knowledge of life.” 

“Anytime you feel like enlightening someone, I’m here,” Mary said, chuckling. Dean turned and pulled something out from under the counter and handed it to her.

“By the way, I was wondering if you want this.”

She looked down at the ticket in her hand.

“They’re a pretty decent indie rock band performing next Saturday downtown. I bought the tickets back when I was with my ex, and now I really don’t need them both. I figured you might want it?”

“Really? Don’t you want anything for it? This could get you a few hundred on Ebay.” She looked at him unsurely, still holding the ticket between them.

“No way, you take it. I’d rather know someone is enjoying the show and actually appreciating the artistic value of the music for once.”

She smiled and stuck the ticket in her pocket.

“Thanks. You know, I think I have a friend from school who was asking around to see if anyone else was going a while back, so I might even have someone to go with.”

“Perfect.”

***

Pencil hovering over paper, Mary glanced over at her father as he sat reading a book in his favorite chair. The room was quiet, and she could hear the faint sound of his breathing as she studied the angle his neck was bent at and tried to recreate it on paper. After a few minutes she set her pencil down and scooted to the other side of the couch.

“What do you think?” she asked, holding out her sketch pad to show her father. He closed his book, holding his page with a finger, and studied the drawing. 

“You’ve gotten to be such a talented artist. I know you practice, and it shows.” He smiled at the picture.

“You like it?”

“Absolutely. Though the ear could use a bit more work.”

“I thought so. That’s the fourth time I’ve drawn the thing, though, so it’s staying that way until tomorrow. There is one thing, though…”

She grabbed a colored pencil from the stack beside her and carefully shaded in Castiel’s irises with a sapphire blue. She’d go over them later with an arctic ice-like color to get a better result, but that was the closest she could ever get to recreating her father’s eyes. She showed the sketch to him with the added color.

“Beautiful,” he said. “You do quite a bit like that with the one feature being colored. Usually the eyes in portraits, I’ve noticed.”

“Yeah, I think it might be my style or something, the one color thing. I love the black and white, but a bit of vibrancy adds character, I think.”  
“You have the eye of a true artist,” Castiel said with a smile, opening his book again. 

Mary smiled and settled back into her spot on the couch, legs stretched out across the cushions. Flipping a few pages to look over her recent work, she came to a rough sketch of Dean’s profile. It needed a bit more work on the hair, and the nose could use better slopes, but she was pretty proud of it. Like the one of her dad, everything but the eyes was black and white. Dean’s eyes were shaded with summer green with a metallic dusting over the top to show the sparkle they always seemed to have. Staring at the drawing for a moment, she picked up a black pencil and began shading smooth lines around his eyes. Soon, the sketch was clad in eyeliner pretty comparable to what he wore. 

She’d started the sketch one day a few weeks before when things were slow in the coffee shop, and Dean had made her promise he could have it once she had taken it home to finish and color. After studying her work a bit more, she decided that it might finally be ready to bring to him.

“Mary?” She looked up to see her father staring over at her.

“Yes, Dad?” she asked, heart thumping. She couldn’t get in trouble for having a sketch of some dude in her notebook, but for some reason, she became worried anyway. 

“Yesterday I got home, and you weren’t here. You didn’t show up for a few hours.”

“I’m sorry...You didn’t call, so I didn’t know you were expecting me.”

“You’re just usually home before me, and I got a bit worried. I didn’t want to over step and decided to give some time before I called.”

“Oh, I’m really sorry. I would have let you know if I’d known you were going to worry. I’ll do better next time.”

“Can I ask where you were?”

“I was just getting coffee with a friend.” A friend twice your age.

“Oh are you and Bella spending more time together again? Or is it a new boyfriend?” Castiel gave a teasing smile and raised his eyebrows. 

“No, no, not at all. He’s a barista named Dean, but he is so completely and totally just a friend that it creeps me out just to hear you say that.”

“Oh,” Cas smiled. “Well, I’m glad to know you made a good friend. And it’s nice to know that you aren’t the only teenager willing to take a decent summer job in this city.”

Yep. Totally. It’s not, like, his career plan or anything, nope. She forced a smile. 

 

***

Mary rolled out of bed on Saturday around noon, having let herself sleep in on her first weekend off from work in a month. Shuffling to the kitchen in her pajamas, she started pouring Captain Crunch into a bowl as Castiel hurried around the apartment grabbing an assortment of items: keys, watch, wallet, clean socks. 

“Are you going to work? On a Saturday?” Mary asked with a remnant yawn. 

“I am.” Cas stopped by the table where she sat eating her cereal and pulled on his trench coat. “I spaced out entirely and didn’t design the test for Monday’s class. Then there’s grading the major projects, so I will most likely be home late. You can order pizza if you would like.”

“Is it alright if I go out with Bella for a bit later?” Mary asked.

“Of course. Just remember your curfew.”

She nodded and Cas leaned down to kiss his daughter on the forehead. 

“Have a nice day. I love you.”

“Love you too,” she said with a mouth full of cereal. 

***

Mary paced outside in skinny jeans and a snug sweater dress that reached mid thigh and had short sleeves. Thank God she had decided to wear sneakers. Bella was forty-five minutes late already, and she was pretty tired of being eyed suspiciously by the security at the door. Finally, she gave up on Bella and handed over her ticket, receiving an under twenty-one wristband and entrance into the building in return. The band was fantastic, but she felt awkward standing there by herself listening, so she headed over the a lounge area where the music was still easily heard. The bartender handed her a Sprite, and as she turned away from the bar she bumped into another body. 

“Woah,” the guy said, grabbing Mary’s shoulder lightly to steady her. 

He was tall, like really tall, with long brown hair and a puppy dog face and eyes whose color was long past determinable. Her breath caught in anticipation of klutziness, but after a moment all seemed fine, and even their drinks were safe from spillage. 

“Sorry about that,” he said with an apologetic smile. 

“It’s okay,” she replied. “It was completely my fault.” 

Before they could say another word, the guy turned his head abruptly in the direction behind them.

“Sammy!” someone was shouting. Two people came up to them, a woman with crimped blonde hair, a pretty smile, and a basketball of a stomach and who else of course but Dean the barista/granter of musical wishes.

“Hey Sam-” Dean was saying as the blonde woman stumbled slightly and steadied herself by grabbing Sam’s shoulder. “Mary?” Dean finished instead. Sam and Jess, who Mary knew from conversations with Dean, looked between the two before throwing questioning expressions at Dean.

“Um, this is my brother Sam and his wife, Jessica.” Mary smiled and shook each of their hands.

“It’s nice to meet you both. And congratulations on the baby, Dean mentioned it.”

“As if he needed to,” Jess laughed, resting a hand on her round stomach. 

“What happened to your friend?” Dean questioned, looking around as if he’d missed someone.

“Oh, she bailed. I waited outside for almost an hour.” Mary shrugged.

“Why don’t you hang with us then?” Jess said, and Sam chimed in with, “Yeah, we’ll buy you a drink.”

Mary was shaking her head already when Dean said, “She’s underage.” Sam nodded with a smile  
.  
“Sorry. I didn’t realize.”

“It’s okay,” Mary said. “I came for the music, not the booze.”

They all sat around a table in a less busy area of the club, Dean and Sam drinking beer and Jess and Mary water. The conversation was spread across a variety of topics, but currently, they were discussing potential baby names. If it was a boy, Jess liked John after Sam and Dean’s father, but Sam argued that it was too common. 

“You could choose something more individual and use John as a middle name...Zachary John Winchester or something?” Mary suggested using one of the other names they had mentioned, and Jess smiled.

“I actually really like that,” she said. 

“Nice idea.” Sam grinned and tapped Mary gently on the shoulder. 

She smiled wider than she probably should have. Making intelligent conversation with someone other than her father and Dean was nice for once. Why was it that she was more comfortable talking to three adults in a bar than she would have been talking to three teenagers in a school cafeteria? Dean was debating the name Marie with Jess when someone came up to the table from behind Mary and set a hand on her shoulder. She flinched and turned around, and her friends stopped mid conversation to turn with her. The man was her height with long brunette hair and whiskey-colored eyes that were usually much more filled with excitement than they happened to be right then. 

“Mary.” His voice was filled with confirmed suspicions. 

“Gabe? What are you doing here?” she asked.

“I think the question is, what are you doing here, kiddo?” Her uncle glanced at the three strangers closer to his age than his niece’s and the beer bottles on the table in front of them. He shook his head. “I think it’s time for you to go home.” He put a hand on Mary’s shoulder to gently pull her up out of her seat. He grabbed her sweater off the back of her chair. 

“Excuse me.” Dean was standing and grabbing Gabriel’s hand off Mary’s shoulder in a second, and his body gravitated in between her and the stranger. “Unless you’re her father, she’s not going anywhere with you.”

“Well you certainly aren’t her father.” Gabriel took a defensive step back and bitch-faced Dean.

“I don’t think that’s any of your business,” Dean said grimly before Mary had a chance to cut in.

“Really, because I may not be her dad, but I am his brother, and I don’t know you.” Mary watched her uncle put his hands on his hips, stick out his chin, and glare at Dean. “So why don’t you get the hell away from her.” Gabe stepped forward suddenly and shoved Dean away from Mary, causing him to step backwards into an unoccupied table. Sam stood suddenly and Mary had a chance to turn and put her hands up. 

“Stop! All three of you! He’s my uncle, they’re my friends, and everyone needs to stop.” 

Sam paused, looking unsurely at her, then at Dean, who looked equally unsure about everything.

“Now that we’ve got all that settled, let’s go. I’m making sure you get home,” Gabriel said. Mary nodded and turned to the Winchesters

“I’m sorry. It was nice to meet you,” she said to Sam and Jess, then an apologetic “I’ll see you later,” to Dean before she followed her uncle towards the door, face burning red. 

***

“I’m sorry, I still don’t understand what is going on.” Castiel stood in the entryway in wrinkled slacks and a button up shirt listening to his older brother explain everything again. Cas rubbed his eyes and tried to comprehend what was being said; he’d fallen asleep on the couch waiting for Mary to come home and still wasn’t completely awake or alert. 

“I found her in a bar with three strangers that were our age and drinking, one of whom decided that I wasn’t going to take her home and tried to fight me like he was defending her honor or some shit.”

“The bar doesn’t serve minors, and they’re my friends.” Mary understood her uncle’s actions, but she didn’t want her father getting the wrong idea. Castiel ran a hand over his face and sighed.

“Thank you, Gabriel. I appreciate you looking out for Mary and bringing her home, as I’m sure she does as well. I’ve got her now if you’d like to go home or back out or wherever.”

As soon as Gabe was out the front door, Mary was talking.

“Dad, I swear I wasn’t drinking. I went to see a band, and they gave me an under twenty-one wristband so the bartender wouldn’t serve me, and if it weren’t for the special event, they wouldn’t have even let in a minor. And they were just my friends, one of whom wasn’t even drinking because she’s pregnant, and Dean didn’t realize who Uncle Gabe was when he came up and tried to pull me away, so he did what he thought was right, and I swear, Dad, nothing was-”

Castiel held up a hand, and she stopped talking.

“I’m upset, so don’t think this means there won’t be consequences, but I’m also too tired. We will talk about this later, probably when I get home from work. Please just go to bed so that I can get some sleep as well.” 

Mary nodded.

“I’m sorry.”

“I know,” Cas said softly, kissing the top of her head before heading for his bedroom.

Once she was in her own room, lying in bed in pajamas, face still full of makeup she hadn’t bothered washing off, Mary pulled her cellphone out of her jeans pocket. Scrolling through her short list of contacts, she clicked on Dean’s name and started typing. She’d taken his number at some point for something, and texting an almost thirty-year old was still strange, but she couldn’t wait.

That was absolutely embarrassing. I’m so sorry. I hope you’re okay. 

A few minutes later, another text bubble popped up, and she read his message expecting the worst. Instead, it said:

Don’t worry at all. The night had been a bit too boring anyways :)

Mary smiled in relief and dropped her phone on the bedside table. Now she could fall asleep only worrying about her father. The next morning, she woke up earlier than necessary to catch Cas before he left for work. She came out when he was rummaging in the cabinets and stood expectantly. When he didn’t say anything, she took a deep breath.

“Dad?”

He looked over, face questioning before he realized. His expression went into thought-mode for a moment as he moved to the coat closet and grabbed his old faithful trenchcoat. Once it was on, he grabbed his brief case and finally stopped to face Mary. 

“From now on, I want to know where you are and who you are with. You will start updating me anytime you go somewhere you weren’t originally planning on going, and I honestly don’t like the idea of you spending time with only adults. You’re a very mature girl, Mary, and I know that you don’t connect with a lot of people your age, but I don’t trust other people I don’t know. I’d like you to start spending your time with different people. Teenagers.”

She nodded sadly but with understanding. “Is that it?”

“I’d like to talk to you more later tonight, but you’re probably looking at a bit of time being grounded. I know I never gave you specific rules like you have now, but you were in a bar, and even if you weren’t drinking, you were surrounded by people who were. At the very least, I should have known this. A couple weeks at home will only do you good.”

“Alright. I understand.” Castiel smiled sadly and gave her a hug.

“You are pretty amazing, you know that? I don’t know what I would do if I lost you.”

“You aren’t gonna lose me, Dad. I’m right here, and I love you.” He sighed and hugged her tighter.

“I love you too.”

***

Castiel was halfway to the university and being racked by yawns from caffeine withdrawals when he decided that he could handle being a few minutes late to work and pulled over. He had forgotten to buy coffee filters last time he went shopping, and buying one over-priced commercial coffee was worth being awake for his classes. 

The coffee shop was less busy than he had expected, probably because it was privately-owned and didn’t say Starbucks on the front door. He made it to the front of the line within a minute or two and ordered the simplest thing on the menu while pulling out his wallet and flipping through his cash for the right amount. 

“Castiel Novak?” the guy behind the counter said, having seen Cas’ license. Cas looked up at the eye-linered man with the freckles spilled across the bridge of his nose and nodded.

“As in Mary Novak?” 

Castiel’s brow furrowed as he nodded slowly and tilted his head, glancing at the barista’s nametag. He didn’t know anyone named Dean.

“God,” the green eyed man said, “you really do do her squinting thing.”

“You.” Castiel said in a low, raspy voice.

“Huh?”

“You’re the one taking my daughter to bars at night. My teenage daughter.”

“Wait, wait,” Dean said, raising his hands up in realization of what was happening. Before he had a chance to explain, Castiel’s fist was colliding with his face. As Dean fell backwards into the row of coffee machines, Cas grabbed his wallet off the counter and stormed out of the shop.

***

Being grounded wasn’t that bad, as far as Mary was concerned. It had only been one day of course, but when her father came home, he wasn’t angry or irritated at her, like fathers always were at grounded kids on TV. He did seem a bit quieter, and she caught him staring at her a few times during dinner with those sad blue eyes of his. She didn’t ask though and just enjoyed the unexpected calm. He would talk to her about whatever was bothering him when he was ready. 

They were sitting in the living room watching old Star Trek reruns and waiting for dinner to be finished cooking when the doorbell rang. Castiel’s eyebrows furrowed, as they didn’t get very many visitors. It was most likely Anna or Gabe or maybe even Balthazar. Mary stood and went to answer it. 

“Dean?” she asked upon opening the door, shocked to see him standing in the breezeway. 

“Hey Mary, I think we need to talk.” When he spoke, his hand travelled to his face automatically in response to the sore pain. There was a large bruise stretched from his jaw up across his cheekbone, right under his left eye. 

“What happened to your face?” Mary’s voice was filled with concern, and she reached up to let her hand hover over the injury as if being closer to it were going to tell her how it happened and how much pain he was in. 

“Mary?” Castiel came into the entryway and saw Dean outside. “What are you doing here?” 

“Mr. Novak,” Dean pushed past Mary into the house, “we need to talk and clear some things up.”

“I believe I cleared everything up for you this morning,” Castiel responded, and Dean’s hand unconsciously went to his face again. 

“DAD?” Mary turned to her father, eyes widening. “You did that? I didn’t think you even knew how to punch someone.”

“Don’t be absurd, I boxed in college.” Cas didn’t let his daughter’s shock distract him from the attractive creep standing in his entryway.

“I swear to God, I’m in the twilight zone.”

“Mary,” Dean said sternly, and she stopped talking, which brought a look of alarm across Cas’ face. “Please. Let us sit down so that I can explain everything.”

It took a while and some pausing to answer questions, but finally Dean had said all he intended to say, and he sat back so that Castiel could respond however he intended to. Cas wasn’t sure what to say or what to think, for that matter. Mary and this thirty-whatever year old with the tattoos and the combat boots were...friends? They talked? He gave her advice? Maybe Mary was right, maybe they were in the twilight zone. Dean had admitted that he had given Mary the ticket and that he was drinking while around her, but he assured Castiel that she had not been in any danger and that all of the other time they had spent together was in the coffee shop while Dean was working. 

“You’re not pursuing my daughter?” Cas asked, squinting again.

“What?” Mary asked, and Dean closed his eyes and cringed, shaking his head.

“No, no, no, not in the slightest.” Dean shook his head some more. “No.”

“Dad, that’s gross. And I’m going out with a guy from school anyways.”

“Ash?” Dean asked, turning to Mary. His eyes lit up as he became completely distracted. “You asked him out?”

“Yeah,” she smiled, “I took your advice about the football thing, and we went last Friday.”

Dean nodded and grinned, face filling with accomplishment.

“Alright, alright,” Castiel said, and they both turned to face him, back in the current moment again.

“Dad,” Mary said, “I needed a friend, and Dean became a good one. He’s really a great person. I actually think you’d like him if you got to know him.”

Castiel groaned internally. This was ridiculous. All of it. His daughter being friends with this guy, them acting like thirteen year old girls talking about some boy she wanted to go out with, how freaking attractive the dude was, the fact that he’d punched that very attractive face eight hours ago, and that his hand still hurt. It was all ridiculous. He rubbed his face with his hands and sighed.

“I suppose he could...stay for dinner.”

They ate awkwardly, of course that first night. Castiel was still trying to wrap his head around everything, and Dean was walking on eggshells, which didn’t exactly fit his personality. 

“You told me your dad’s eyes were blue, but you didn’t properly prepare me for just how freaking blue,” Dean said at one point before immediately clamping his mouth shut. Castiel stifled a small laugh, and a pink blush rose on both their faces. That was the moment it occurred to Mary. It would take a few weeks of her dancing around the subject with Dean, then even more convincing her dad. Eventually, she would beg him just enough and Castiel would be convinced at just the right moment that his sixteen year old knew Dean well enough to be as sure as she sounded. The words came out jumbled and awkward. He hadn’t done anything like this in a long time, but the butterflies in his stomach slowly melted away as Dean broke out into a grin and bit his lip in the way that, combined with the rest of his look, was unbelievably hot. 

“I’d love to see a movie sometime, Cas.”

“To clarify, just the two of us. No Mary.”

Dean smiled again.

“Just the two of us.”


End file.
